Monday, July 18, 2005

As Deep Throat said in All the President's Men: "Follow the money." It seems Hollywood -- after years of abusive portrayals of Christians and Christ -- is doing just that and Christianizing much of their fare.

The researchers found that "when it comes to popular movies and popular shows, tastes don't differ at all" between religious and nonreligious, said Joseph Helfgot, president of MarketCast. "What you find is that people with conservative religious doctrine are the most likely to see movies rated R for violence. If you compared it to liberals, it's a third more."

Mr. Helfgot concluded that catering to the religious audience was trickier than it might at first appear, and that Hollywood would do well to explore those complications.

"There's a wind going through the production community about responding to religion," he said. "But when it comes to movies, people distinguish between moral issues and entertainment issues. And most people, even the very religious, are very happy with their movies."